MOSCOW, Russia — The Russian military has targeted Ukrainian military infrastructure with air and sea cruise missiles, the Defense Ministry said, as Moscow continued its invasion of the pro-Western country.
“Overnight, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation launched a strike with long-range precision weapons using air-launched and sea-launched cruise missiles against Ukraine’s military infrastructure,” the official said. Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov in televised remarks.
He said the Russian military only targets military infrastructure without damaging “residential and social infrastructure”.
This claim came despite ground evidence from affected residential buildings.
A Russian missile targeted a residential house in Kiev last night pic.twitter.com/xEU4VtOS32
— Illia Ponomarenko (@IAPonomarenko) February 26, 2022
Speaking on the third day of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Konashenkov also said Russian troops had taken “full control” of the southeastern town of Melitopol.
“The Russian military is taking all measures to ensure the safety of civilians and to exclude provocations from Ukrainian special services and nationalists,” the spokesperson said.
He says that since the start of the Russian attack on Thursday, the army has struck 821 Ukrainian military installations, including 14 air bases and 19 command installations, and destroyed 24 air defense missile systems, 48 radars, seven combat aircraft , seven helicopters, nine drones, 87 tanks. and eight naval vessels.
The Russian Navy destroyed eight military boats, Konashenkov said.
Konashenkov did not specify the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed and did not mention any casualties on the Russian side. His claims and Ukraine’s claims that his forces killed thousands of Russian soldiers could not be independently verified.
He gave no details of Russian losses in the fighting in the face of claims from Kiev that they inflicted heavy damage on forces in Moscow.
On Thursday, Russian leader Vladimir Putin unleashed a full-scale invasion of Ukraine that killed dozens, forced more than 50,000 to flee Ukraine in just 48 hours and raised fears of greater conflict in Europe.
